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Fixed-wing aircraft have an important role to play in the communications network of the frozen North

Commuter World published this report about Greenlandair

As airlines go, Greenlandair is rather unusual, being an active transport company which carries out tasks vital to the country's existence as a community, for there can be no other modern society as dependent upon aviation as the inhabitants of Greenland.

Outside of the towns and settlements there are no roads, and although ships also play a vital part in the transportation network, their effectiveness is somewhat reduced by the frozen coastal seas which affect much of the country in the winter months. For this reason Greenlandair must be the only airline in the world whose main competition is the dog sledge!


Only the dog sledge is more reliable   The Dash-7 STOL (Short-Take- Off- and-Landing) is the working horse of Greenlandair


Greenlandair (in Danish, Grønlandsfly A/S) currently transports some 200,000 passengers a year, and although that figure may not sound significant, it is in fact four times the population of the country! The route network covers much of the 2,500 km (1,553 mi) distance from the north to the south of the country - a distance equivalent to that between Copenhagen and the Canary Islands. All this is operated by a fleet of just twenty-five helicopters and seven fixed-wing aircraft, not one of which is a jet, and with the fastest having a rather modest cruising speed of 450 km/h (280 mph).

Some 85% of Greenland lies under a permanent ice cap, and is marked on charts as 'unexplored'! This covers an area of 1.8 million km2, equivalent to almost seven times the size of the United Kingdom. For this reason all centres of population are on the coastal regions, mostly on terrain which is impracticable, if not impossible, for the construction of airfields.

Airfields

There are consequently only eight airfields in this vast country, one of which is the US Thule Air Base in the far north-west. Two of the others, Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq, (the latter perhaps better known by its Danish name Sondre Stromfjord), are also former US bases, and are the only ones capable of taking jets.

Icelandair Boeing 737s from Keflavik and, during the summer months, SAS MD-83s from Copenhagen serve Narsarsuaq, while SAS Boeing 767s link Kangerlussuaq with Copenhagen up to five times a week in summer, with a reduced service in winter. First Air has a weekly Boeing 727 service from Iqualuit in Canada which continues on to Thule.

Kangerlussuaq in fact still had a US presence until as recently as 1992, and is still sometimes used as a refuelling stop, while the Royal Danish Air Force has a Gulfstream 3 detached from its Vaerlose base for coastal surveillance duties and, when necessary, to evacuate those in need of specialist medical help to Denmark or Iceland. There is no town or settlement in the vicinity of Kangerlussuaq, and the airport exists purely as the major gateway to Greenland and as a transit airport, thanks to its excellent weather record. With the exception of Thule, it also has the longest runway, 2,815 m (9,236 ft).

Due to the terrain constraints all the other airports were built specifically for Dash 7 operations, including the airline's headquarters at the capital, Nuuk. The airports are equipped with NDB, and Kangerlussuaq, Narsarsuaq and Nuuk also have ILS localiser but, again due to the terrain, have no glidepath. The airfield at Nuuk sits on a small plateau above the town, but there is only enough room for a 950 m (3,117 ft) runway. Greenlandair has three hangars here, and all major servicing is undertaken at this facility.


Nuuk Airport is situated next to the gigantic fiord system behind the town   Nuuk Airport - home base of Greenlandair


Ilulissat is the hub airport north of the Arctic Circle. Ilulissat is the Greenlandic word for iceberg, and is rather appropriate as the town is adjacent to a 45 km (28 mile) long and, at the mouth, 10 km (6.2 mile) wide glacier, which is the most productive glacier in the world, moving 30 m (98.5 ft) a day and calving huge icebergs into Disko Bay. Until 1984 the town was served by a heliport, but thanks to an EEC grant which paid for 133 million of the 174 million Dkr cost, the present airport 4 km north of the town was opened in August 1984 after three years of construction.

To give some idea of the difficulties involved in such a project, during construction of the 845 m (2,775 ft) long runway 300,000 m3 of bedrock was blasted, 50,000 m3 of earth excavated and filled with 350,000 m3 of gravel before being covered in asphalt. Steel structures for the terminal were fabricated and installed by workers of the shipyard at Sisimiut, a town further down the coast. The only navigation facility at the airport is an NDB and pilots have to fly a 5.6° glidepath on approach to the runway. This of course is no problem for Dash 7 pilots, but concentrates the mind a bit more for those flying other fixed-wing types.

Fixed-wing assets

For most visitors to Greenland their introduction to the national airline is likely to be a flight in a DHC Dash 7. All four aircraft are based at Nuuk, and the bulk of their work is linking the capital with Ilulissat, Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq. They are heavily utilised to feed traffic to and from the SAS 767, and when it arrives at Kangerlussuaq, it is not uncommon for it to be followed by up to three Dash 7s. The type is also used, up to three times a week to Kulusuk on the east coast and thence onto Keflavik in Iceland. There is also a service from Keflavik to Ittoqortoormiit and Nerlerit Inaat.

The first of the type was acquired in February 1979 and was the tenth aircraft off the Downsview production line. This was followed by a second a year later and a third in May 1988. Greenlandair was the first customer to specify a cargo door for the Dash, and consequently had to fork out most of the design costs. The airline plays a major part in the provision of supplies vital to communities, hence the requirement for the cargo door.

The airline's groundcrews must be some of the hardest working anywhere as, during turnrounds (which average forty-five minutes) they constantly change the role fit of the aircraft depending on the passenger load. If bookings show that only half of the fifty seats have been sold then most of the remainder of the seats will be removed to make way for freight, and passengers can find themselves sharing the cabin with anything from mail bags to a snowmobile!

It may not be the fastest thing on two wings, but the STOL characteristics of the Dash have proved it's the ideal aircraft for Greenland's compact airfields. The first three Dash 7s have been given Greenlandic names after aspects of the aircraft; OY-CBT 'Papikkaaq' (Big Tail), OY-CBU 'Nipiki' (Silent) and OY-CTC 'Minniki' (Short Lander).



"Greenlandair's pilots undoubtedly undertake some of the most demanding flying anywhere in the world. However, they do have the opportunity to fly amongst some of the most stunning scenery imaginable, and perhaps be as close to nature as any aviator can be".   As close to nature as any aviator can be


During the latter half of 1994 the airline acquired a fourth Dash from Abu Dhabi, though the aircraft required many hours of work to bring it up to standard before being put into service. This aircraft, OY-GRD is in a non-standard predominantly white scheme and is called 'Sapangaq' (Pearl), the name given to it by its previous operator.

Prior to adopting the Dash 7 the company was no stranger to de Havilland Canada products, having previously operated the versatile DHC-6 Twin Otter. Two of these machines, acquired in late 1976 and early 1978 are still in use, but not on the scheduled network. One is based at Narsarsuaq where it is primarily utilised on ice reconnaissance missions, monitoring the ice flows which traverse the east and southern coastline of the country and which may be a danger to shipping. This aircraft is fitted with a chin-mounted radar with a ship's navigation officer at the radar console for mapping and plotting purposes. Ice reconnaissance patrols which are funded by the Danish Meteorological Institute are usually flown thrice weekly.

The other 'Twotter' is available for ad-hoc charter work and is usually kept pretty busy. For three months of 1996 it was chartered by NASA and, fitted with skis, flew all over Greenland making many landings on the frozen ice cap. The airline's most recent acquisition is a leased Beech 200 which is available for ad-hoc charter work. It carries a non-standard livery and is registered OY-NUK, denoting its home base. When needed it can also be used to supplement the Dash 7 schedules.

Although not strictly relevant to Greenlandair's operations it is worth mentioning Cessna 172 OY-CFJ. This aircraft belongs to Greenlandair Flying Club, and after having spent a year on the ground, it was returned to flying condition at Nuuk at the end of August 1995 newly resplendent in the company livery and named 'Aquisseq' (Ptarmigan). The club also has a Piper Cub at Kangerlussuaq.

Greenlandair's pilots undoubtedly undertake some of the most demanding flying anywhere in the world. However, they do have the opportunity to fly amongst some of the most stunning scenery imaginable, and perhaps be as close to nature as any aviator can be.

Text & photo: Robbie Shaw, Commuter World. 1997



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